


Beyond Recognition

by notaquaman



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Fairy Tales, M/M, Transgender Characters, but i couldnt think of anyone else lmao, ftm! john egbert, minus the fairies, staring a very out of character dad, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-16
Updated: 2015-06-16
Packaged: 2018-04-04 15:23:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4142790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notaquaman/pseuds/notaquaman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A long time ago there was a king, whose queen had died in childbirth. The child born was a mirror image of her mother, and then she betrayed him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beyond Recognition

A long time ago, there was a king. This king had a lovely wife, who was pregnant with child. She spent every evening in the forests surrounding their kingdom, one hand on her stomach, and a song in her voice. The day she went into labor, she died. The entire kingdom mourned the loss of their queen and yet still celebrated the birth of their new princess. 

The girl grew up to be beautiful, with long black hair that spilled down her back, and eyes as bright as entire galaxies. Her dresses were blues, and whites, and golds that hugged her small figure tightly, clinging to her skin as if it were trying to become it. She reminded him of the queen so much that it made her loss a little bit easier to bare. 

One day, when the princess came out of her room, her hair was cut short, small strands and chunks of it sticking up at random. Her dress lay in tatters on the ground, and only the corset remained, still pressing against her chest. The king stared in horror at the once beautiful princess, watching her lips move without sound.

“I’m a boy,” The princess said, much to the king's disbelief. The pair stared at each other in silence, eyes wide and somewhat frightened.

“Guards!” The king yelled, waving an arm over at the knights that stood by the doors at the end of the hall. “Prepare the tower, there’s going to be someone living in it very soon.” 

He turned his glare back to the offender and pushed her back into the room, slamming the door and walking away.

~

‘How could she do this to me? How could she take away the one piece of the queen that I had left?’ The king thought as he paced back and forth in his study, fingers running through his dark hair before he fell back into his chair, resting his head on his hand.

“Sire, the tower is ready. Shall we take the princess there?” A knight said from the doorway, one hand resting on his sword. 

“Yes, yes. Make sure you don’t hurt her, and take all her dresses there too. She’ll get out all those disgusting thoughts in solitary.”

The knight nodded and bowed, closing the door behind him. Further down the hall, he heard screams and curses, but didn’t dare get up from his seat. A minute later, the sounds ceased, shortly followed by a thump that seemed to echo in his ears. He rubbed his temples and rose, walking out into the hall, not bothering to look as they took away his child, opting to go straight to bed.  
~

The tower was tall and cold, built as a memorial for the queen and constructed of stone and vines. When the boy, not a prince nor a princess, opened his eyes it was dark, clouds covering the light of the sun. He rubbed at his eyes, sitting up and rub his bruised skin around his rib cage. He stood up on unsteady feet, walking towards the small window and holding onto the wooden sill. Swallowing hard, he looked down at the arm length barbs and thick trees that surrounded the tower.

He sighed, beginning to pull off the tight corset, letting it fall to the ground as the soft fabric that lay underneath it unstuck from his skin. His lungs automatically filled with air, and he allowed himself to relax against the molding wood and wet stone. The boy looked at the cloud covered sky, watching light shift back and forth in the mist. Letting out a deep breath, he sat down on the fraying carpet on the ground.

He picked up a small pocket knife, twirling it around for a bit before setting the tip against the wall. He began to press it in, carving a small simple name into it, ‘John’. Minutes passed where he simply stared at the word, trailing a finger over it idly before nodding to himself and laying back, allowing his head to thump against the ground.  
~  
Days must have passed before he heard another human voice. Days filled meager meals of bread and cheese, picking at the wall, and crying. John wiped his face again and again, using the dresses the king had left as tissues. He couldn’t seem to figure out why he was in the tower in the first place. Didn’t his own father love him? ‘I suppose not’ He thought, gulping to force back a bought of fresh tears.

“Hello? Is anyone up there?’ A voice that carried up to the window asked.

John immediately rushed over, hanging out of the opening in order to get a better look at the stranger. 

“Yes! Yes, I’m here!” He yelled down, waving one arm wildly at the stranger.

“You know, I wasn’t really expecting an answer, and the answer I was expecting had more… you know…” The stranger gestured at his upper chest.

John shrank back instinctively before replying. “Ha, you won’t find any of that here.” He chuckled nervously. 

“I can see that, so why are you up in there? Did you sneak in or something?”

“Definitely ‘or something.’” He replied, smiling wide before carefully arranging himself on the window ledge, planting one foot on the ground firmly while the other dangled freely outside.

“You gonna elaborate on that or am I going to be left hanging?” The stranger asked, raising one hand to shield his eyes.

“Depends on if you’re going to come back or not,” John said.

“Alright tower kid, I’ll come back. You gonna spill or not?”

“Maybe, maybe. Tell me your name first.” He smiled even wider at the strangers obvious frustration.

“Jesus Christ, okay that’s not my name. I’m Dave.” He ran a hand through his thick hair before letting it fall back into its natural wave.

“Well hello there Dave, I’m Ja- John. I’m John.” He nodded in assurance to himself before smiling again.

“Alright tower kid, John, whatever. You gonna tell me why you’re up there or not?” Dave asked, getting clearly irritated by the lack of elaboration and detail.

“Okay, okay, jeez.” John chuckled softly, tossing his hair and shifting a bit on the ledge. “So this might be a little hard to believe, but I’m the princess. Well, was I guess, I don’t know what I am now.”

“That doesn’t explain why you’re in a tower.” Dave said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I was getting there, you’re so impatient.” He shifted again. “Anyways, before your interruption, I was saying that I was the princess. Now I’m sort of not, I’m nothing I guess. I mean one day I just figured that I wasn’t? A princess I mean. If that makes sense. And so I went to tell my dad and he got, heh, very upset to say the least. And then he got really loud, louder than he’s ever been, and the guards took me here.”

“Wait, your dad… the king? The big guy? But he always seemed like such a, I don’t know, he doesn’t seem like the kind of dude to throw his own kid in a tower,” Dave said, shifting on his feet before settling down on the damp grass. He wrapped one hand around the hilt of his sword, resting the other one on his lap.  
The barbs stuck out mere inches from his face, wicked sharp and shining in the light. John nodded solemnly in response, frowning as the sun began to shine brighter.

“Great father figure, right?” John scoffed, picking off a piece of wood and dropping it below.

“I’m sorry,” Dave said, leaning back to rest against the bark of a tree. “You shouldn’t have had to go through that.”

“It’s not your fault.” He shrugged and slid back into the tower. “You should get going, wouldn’t want anyone to find out you’re here, would we?” 

“I guess not, I’ll see you again?” 

“Yeah I mean, of course I promised right?. Bye.”

“Bye.”

**Author's Note:**

> l m a o, i wrote this in 2 hours sorry. expect that ending to go through severe editing because wow. reviews?  
> notaquaman.tumblr.com


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